Calling all Yoders: National reunion coming

Group using DNA testing to identify familial links.

Group using DNA testing to identify familial links.

June 27, 2006|SALLY BURNS Tribune Correspondent

Know any Yoders? Family genealogist Chris Yoder said there are some 350,000 Yoders in the United States. Of those, 35,000 live in Indiana. And most of the Yoders from Elkhart and LaGrange counties can trace their lineage to two Amish families who came to America aboard the ship Francis and Elizabeth in 1742. That ship, sailing from Rotterdam, docked in Philadelphia on Sept. 21, 1742. Chris Yoder, who lives in Saugatuck, Mich., is part of a high-tech effort to sort out which Yoders are which. Through DNA testing, the group is looking for descendants of specific ancestors in order to establish or rule out a link between them. According to the Yoder Newsletter, one mystery is whether two brothers who established families in Oley Valley, Pa., in the late 1600s were related to other Yoders who came to America in the 1700s. If results show descendants from the lines share specific DNA indicators, the likelihood of a link is established. The testing is being done by Family Tree DNA, a company that also is working with National Geographic on its Genographic Project. Researchers are calling the National Geographic effort a "landmark" project in which they are testing DNA of volunteers worldwide to track early human origins and the movement of humankind across the globe. Chris said the Yoder family DNA testing is not automatically linked to the National Geographic project, but participants can choose to participate in both types of tests. Yoder donors give samples by ordering a kit, using a cotton swab to rub the inside of their cheeks, and returning the material in the package provided. "The test we need is called the '25 marker' level, and it is $169 plus postage. While some people pay the whole fee, we are also gathering donations to help pay for it," Chris noted. Participation in the National Geographic testing is $99.95 plus postage and is paid by the participant. He is spreading the word about this and other genealogical research through the family's Web site, and through "The Yoder Newsletter." The Web site is recent, but the semi-annual newsletter was started in 1983 by Chris and Ben Yoder of Goshen. It is eight pages of details about and photographs of Yoder relatives. Ben Yoder passed away in 1992. His widow, Esther, is still involved in the distribution of the newsletter. There are about 700 names on the mailing list. "The newsletter continues to exist only because family members contribute to it. All over the United States, and even some in Canada, participate by visiting courthouses and cemeteries and digging through family records and photos," Chris said. "Yoder families in different parts of the country have smaller reunions, just like most families do, and so we'll get more recent photos to publish too," he said. Chris said the biggest event, the national family reunion, brings hundreds of relatives together. This year it will be Oct. 19-22 in Grantsville, Md. "Our family built a replica of a mid-18th century home that is believed to be the house of one of the earliest Yoder immigrants, Yost Yoder," he said. "The planning committee has also organized activities -- a sale of Yoder artifacts and crafts, performances of an original drama on the life of an ancestor, and I'll give a talk about the DNA project. "We will also have tours of area Yoder family farms and the Yoder School, all provided by members of our family," he added. Although Esther has been living in Goshen for about 10 years, she once lived near Grantsville. A retired teacher who taught for 28 years, she taught at the Yoder School. "The Yoder School was built by the Mennonite and Amish, because there were many things in the public schools that did not fit into the Amish lifestyle," she said. "In that one-room school, which later became four rooms, aside from teaching the typical things like reading and writing, I taught things like how to keep income tax records, current events and typing on a manual typewriter," she said. Esther also volunteers at the Yoder House in Grantsville. "We can have 200 to 300 people -- some Yoders, some not -- come through in a week looking at the furnishings, which are antiques, and the architecture, and listening to the stories. "There is also an office where Yoders can do genealogical research. They can download the information we have available, too," she said. "And there is a mural, a history timeline of 20 or 30 feet long, it's magnificent," she said. Both Chris and Esther say the family genealogist who is the most knowledgeable is 97-year-old Goshen resident Rachel Kreider. Rachel said she has been doing genealogy work her entire life. "I remember, even as a small child, my grandmother translated German records for a researcher, and my aunt typed it, and that was around 1915," she said. "As I got older my uncle, who kept the records, brought them to me and asked if I would continue the work, and I've been doing that, probably since around the mid-1920s." She and a Johns Hopkins University professor co-authored a primary book on all the Amish family bloodlines in America. She said following her familial ancestors is tricky because members of the Yoder family changed their names. Today, she said, people may not even realize they were originally Yoders. "It has been changed, or pronounced differently and then, of course, spelled differently, so it might be Joder, Jotter, Yetter, Ioder, Ioter, Joder, Yother, Yothers, Yotter, or any number of other names," she said. "But we carefully go through records and verify everything. "It is extremely rewarding work, I think, for all of us," she said.